Sri Lanka’s export earnings and import expenditure were tallied at USD 1 billion each in February 2023, said the Central Bank.
Previously, imports cost more than the export income.
A year ago, they stood respectively at USD 1.1 billion and USD 1.9 billion.
However, USD 2 billion of export earnings in the first two months of 2023 stood below USD 2.4 billion of import costs.
During the same period last year, the two figures were at USD 2.2 billion and USD 3.8 billion respectively.
According to the CBSL, tourism earnings rose year-on-year in February by 0.3 per cent to USD 170 million.
During the period, 107,639 tourists visited Sri Lanka in February, up from 102,545 a month earlier.
Most of them were from Russia, India, UK, Germany and France.
Foreign remittances too, were up considerably to USD 407 million in February 2023.
